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Topic: Bee Suits? (Read 17493 times)

I think its also an experience thing - for newbees like me, I feel more confident and relaxed in a beesuit. Handling bees without I hope to achieve once I know better. Also - cloudy days and cold days the girls are testy but when the flow is on they are real pussycats

I wanted a suite to start with but my grandpa said I didnt need one so it kinda forced me into it. I wouldnt put on a suite if I was given one for free now, You just have to be relaxed around them. bye :D

I always wear a viel and use gloves most of the time. I wear the full beesuit only when I am removing a colony from a building-it seems the bees are easier going when removed from a hollow tree,not half as excitable as they get when they are in between walls or floors. I have read somewhere that light colored clothing is better to wear around bees so I also wear light colored street clothes around the hives when doing inspections.

It's true that I do talk to them, and treat them with respect. :) I think they were just really happy bees last summer. I bought them as nucs in late June, so I fed them pretty much all the time until the September goldenrod flow, so as far as they were concered, life was pretty darned good.

It's interesting that in spite of everything I've read about packages being gentle, blah blah blah, and in spite of spraying iwth sugar syrup, I got stung no fewer than five times when I hived my five packages this spring. And that was with a veil. I don't get much more than a little redness when I get stung, so it was no big deal, but I worried that the girls were hot.

Nope. They were probably just tired and cranky from the trip... or something. In any case, they've settled down and are now just fine.

Lesli, Did they get inside your viel or get you someplace else? I have not been hit installing packages yet but the friend whose bees I was hiving,got stung twice on the ear, his viel didn't have elastic or a drawstring. It was the type that just drapes over your head-a fine mesh-not screened.

I did the first package without a veil, and got tagged on the jaw. In spite of my hat, a bee also got tangled in my hair and I got a sting on my scalp. So on with the veil. One more sting on the arm, one on my back (bent over and got tagged where my shirt rode up) and a bee climbed up my jeans and the last one was on my leg.

I think once I got stung, in spite of smoke, etc., I was probably "marked" for the whole session. Since I don't swell from stings (even 5 in a short period of time), it doesn't bother me.

I started my bees last April. All Summer, my outfit was a tyvek suit, veil and one glove. This gave me my clumsy, protected hand and my agile, sensitive hand. It worked really well. By Fall, they had built up quite a bit of honey and started to get a little testy, so I got stung on the hand (the agile one).

This last Saturday, I found that my hive had produced a swarm the day after I came home with my new queen for my intended split. After reading about how gentle swarms are, I began trimming branches away from the swarm so that I could easily fit a ladder and box under it. No suit, no veil and gardening gloves. Just as I prepared to climb the ladder and knock the swarm into the box, I put on my suit and veil - just in case. As I was ten feet up on the ladder, knocking the swarm into the box, I began to feel something on the back of my hand. Then my wrist. Then I realised what was happening with my "gentle" swarm. I climbed down the ladder quickly and scraped the stingers out of my hands, wrist (right up to wher the rubber band on my sleeve was) and the gap at the back of my neck. Thank goodness I thought to put on my veil! A sting in the eye, while ten feet in the air would have been bad news. After talking to a friend who used to keep 200 hives, she said that she always wore a veil and suit, because you just never know when something unplanned can happen. So, for a while anyway, I plan to be safe not sorry. I'll probably shed my gloves again, once the weather and the bees go back to being calm and happy..

My son and I wear shorts and tee shirts for comfort and pest control.Shorts are cooler and allow finding ticks as they crawl up our legs. There is no cuff to worry about. Crawling bees up the trouser legs are not a problem.

I suit up to the hilt and its a good thing with as many misstakes Imake! the other evening I was hit 10 times when they all went after me!well it seemed like all of them! :shock: it was all at once, If I were without armer I would have been a goner for sure they found my zipper hole in the front of my veiltwo in the neck, woke up at 3am with a golfball in my throat at 5 am we were on our way to the hospital to get some stuff to make the swelling go down they looked at me like I was CRAZY :lol: so ya I think I will always were a suit and tape is probly a good idea too!

I am a novice but I always wear a veil , long sleeves , velcro bands on my pants legs, and gloves. I also wear a Tyvek suit if I intend to do more than just inspect. Having had a bear attack my hives and their change in attitude since, now I am a little more cautious. :shock: I am not always calm when the girls start bumping me and especially not calm when they sting -it's a personal goal to be like my instructor at John C. Cambell Folk School and always be calm with bees. One of the reasons I started keeping bees was to learn to slow down and move less frenetically!

Hi Guys, I am a new member. I just got my first hive of bee's yesterday. My uncle had a bear problem, and decided to give them to me. The bear had destroyed his honey super, so I got just the brood box. I quickly constructed a new super and asked my uncle to come coach me through the installation. He forgot his veil so I gave him mine since he was going to be taking screws out that we secured the lid with during the move. I was standing about five feet from the hive while he worked. As soon as the lid came off two of the bees stung me on the forehead. My uncle couldn't believe it. He said the bee's had always been gentle. Do you think the bear attack could have changed their temperment?? Or was I just asking for it standing so close with no veil?

Lots of things affect their temperment. Many that we aren't even aware of. I have just gotten some robbing under control (I hope) and my normally calm bees are very defensive. Closing them up for a move, the jostling and bumping would surely get them ornery.

>now MB, That has got to be the coolest (temp wise) suit I have seen, but get a bad hive and skin to close to the screen and they might still get you, mean hive im talking about

I've now been using one for about a month. I bought the jacket and the pants and just wear shorts under it. For routine work on calm hives I love it. But I do get stung through it when it's stuck to my by sweat and the bees are a little wound up. But in this heat, it has been well worth it. :)

I wear a full suit, vail, and gloves. I like to keep bees, not get stung, so it's full protection for me. I have gotten so I skip the suit and wear just a hooded sweatshirt and vail, with gloves. :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: peggjam